One of my old Texas friends sent me an email last night, titled "A Touch of Real Class," showing 18 pictures of George W. Bush mixing and mugging with uniformed soldiers arriving at the Dallas-Fort Worth airport. It ends with "And, tell me once again the name of the person in the White House who bad-mouths this man and his wife." Jeezus.(Inside scoop: I picked this photo out of all the others because of the young man's crooked smile. I fancy it says "Yeah, yeah, I'm smiling on that side … [Read more...]

(This is a repost, slightly edited, from 2008.)Say you did something you thought was good at the time, but later turned out to be bad. You could admit the mistake. Or you could refuse to admit it.Any sensible person would probably say the first option was the best one. If you can admit a mistake, you can probably do something to fix it, or correct your course so you don’t do it again. And you can move on.The second option has some variations built into it, argumentative positions that m … [Read more...]

Well, it’s a crippling mental illness if you’re a religious authority. Otherwise, it’s Freedom.Nones Climb to 19 Percent America’s “Nones” — the nonreligious — are at an all-time high, now comprising nearly one in five Americans (19%), according to a new study by the Pew Center for the People and the Press. The 19% count is based on aggregated surveys of 19,377 people conducted by the Pew Research Center throughout 2011 and reported by USA Today. … [Read more...]

Facebook friend Dave H. used the acronym "LMO" in a political comment earlier today. After I asked about it, he clarified: LMO stands for “Lord Messiah Obama.”Ack. My reply went on for a bit as I explored how I felt about Obama, and other things. I’m reprinting it here because ... well, I wanted the clarification to get a larger airing:Re: Lord Messiah ObamaI don't think Obama sees himself that way. I don't think thoughtful people see him that way. … [Read more...]

Back when I was in politics, one of the side effects of running for office was that I had a lot more people in my face.If you’re used to your small private life, especially if you’re an introvert like me, you have no idea how much you treasure your time in your own home pursuits, until that time is threatened, or vanishes.Give you an example: It’s years and years back, and I’m running for town council. This necessitates talking to a lot of people. Not in speeches or TV appearances, but just i … [Read more...]